Spatial dimensions of bodily experience in architectural modeling: A case study

We argue that the aesthetic dimension of bodily experience is one of the key concepts in the effort towards a deeper understanding of today’s crisis in architecture design and is needed to gain insights into the future of digital design environments. Our aim is to explore if there are repetitive gestural patterns among different students during the externalization of design ideas. In order to study the crucial focal points and changes in the way of making in architecture and their relations with the “body” from a historical perspective, we designed a half an hour structured modeling exercise as an experimental study. We repeated the same exercise two times in different institutions with two participants each, all master’s level architecture students. In this study we introduce our findings and outcomes in the analysis and comparison of the two modeling exercises based on McNeill’s classification of gestures and Lakoff and Johnson’s theory of image schema.